Science and Technology in Canadian History: A Bibliography of Primary Sources to 1914 comp. by R. Alan Richardson, Bertrum H. MacDonald

Abstract

356 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE to its future as a dynamic association committed to the advancement of both science and society” (p. ix). In fact, The Commonwealth ofScience shows that ANZAAS presented science as a collection of sideshow attractions, parlor tricks, and useful contrivances. Such a carnival atmosphere attracted attention to new sciences, notably anthropology. D. J. Mulvaney notes in his contribution: “For almost half a century, ANZAAS provided the public venue for academic anthropology. As the human sciences diversified and specialized, such general meetings held less appeal” (p. 217). This volume persuades us that ANZAAS generally acted to depress rather than to encourage research. R. W. Home concludes: “If ANZAAS is to remain an organization in which these [physical] sciences have an effective presence, it must find a new role for itself, quite different from the one it has fulfilled during most of its history” (p. 163). Lewis Pyenson Dr. Pyenson is professor of history at the University of Montreal. For two years (beginning in 1989) he is studying science and imperialism as a Killam Research Fellow of the Canada Council of Arts. Science and Technology in Canadian History: A Bibliography of Primary Sources to 1914. Compiled by R. Alan Richardson and Bertrum H. MacDonald. Thornhill, Ont.: HSTC Publications (PO. Box 154 L3T 3N3), 1987. Pp. v+18 (booklet) + 105 microfiche in vinyl binder. $59.95. This publication, which consists of 105 microfiche and an eighteenpage user’s guide pamphlet, is an essential research tool for anyone interested in science and technology in Canada before the First World War. Science and technology in national contexts are becoming increasingly important research perspectives, yet it is often difficult for a researcher in one country to find basic information about primary sources related to another country. It will no longer be so difficult for scholars to study Canadian topics or to test their assump­ tions against binational comparisons. The 58,000 sources indexed in this work are easily located in several ways. The bibliography is organized by author, title, subjects (general), subjects (science), subjects (technology), and key word by title. Subjects (general) includes publications related to archives, education, exhibitions, museums, and societies. Scientific subjects covered range from anthropology to medicine, biology to physics. Appropriately, expeditionary and field sciences are also treated. Technological subjects include agriculture, engineering, energy, and native arts. The time period is equally inclusive: from the 16thcentury travels of Jacques Cartier to the beginnings of industrial TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 357 research. The compilers of this massive reference work are truly to be commended for the service they have provided to historians of science and technology. Similar bibliographies are certainly needed for other nations. Gregory A. Good Dr. Goon teaches the history of science and technology at West Virginia University. Mind at Large: Knowing in the Technological Age. By Paul Levinson. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, 1988. Pp. xviii + 271; notes, bibliog­ raphy, index. $63.50 (institution); $31.75 (individual). According to Paul Levinson, the story of technology has three protagonists: evolution, mind, and technology. His starting point is Darwinian evolution and its extension by Popper, Campbell, and others into what has become known as evolutionary epistemology. This is the notion that our ideas compete with each other and with reality such that the best ideas win out and are selected. Technology is the new twist to the tale of evolutionary epistemology. For Levinson technology is the embodiment of (naturally selected) ideas in matter. It is this mingling of mind and matter that enables us to project our ideas back into Nature and gives us the power to shape, change, and command the natural world and eventually evolution itself. It is a dramatic story, and by and large it is told in an engaging style. The author draws on philosophical sources as diverse as Kant, Popper, Marx, and Heidegger. There are many subplots. I liked the concern with self-reference that runs throughout the book. Certainly, if ideas and knowledge form an integral part of technology, then how we obtain our knowledge of this knowledge makes the philosophy of technology a peculiarly self-referencing discipline. Much philosophy of technology consists of showing why technology is distinct from science in...